Mr. Leggett, Tear Down This Fence

Recently Casey Anderson wrote to the Gazette complaining about the Columbia Country Club's stated concern for the CCT/Georgetown Branch ROW. Casey points out correctly that the County owns 100 feet of ROW, but uses only 12 feet and asks:

Why doesn’t County Executive Ike Leggett take steps to remove the
fences that allow the country club and its members the exclusive use of
this public property free of charge. Alternatively, I would like to see
Mr. Leggett start charging the club rent for the use of the
right-of-way. The money generated from renting the land could be used
to extend the trail to Silver Spring, where we have waited 20 years for
it as part of the Purple Line project.

I have always wondered the same thing. If you let people squat on this property it makes it hard to take it back later (The same issue could pop up in a few places in the Palisades). And besides, why is the county giving real estate rights away for free? They certainly need the money

Cyclists and county officials recognize that Silver Spring’s bike
path network is inadequate, but with a lack of funding and difficulty
in acquiring land, those involved are not expecting a timely solution.

‘Right now, we’re fighting to keep [funding for] the transit center.
That’s of utmost priority. That deals with thousands and thousands of
people while the bike paths are part of a multi-pronged solution.” said Darian Unger, chairman of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board transportation and pedestrian safety committee.

Officials have been trying to negotiate a crossing for the Capital
Crescent Trail over the railway in Silver Spring owned by the CSX
Corporation, but have been unsuccessful.

Upon completion, the Green Trail would run east along Wayne Avenue and
serve as a connector between the other major trails and the Sligo Creek
Trail. But the Green Trail comes with delays as well. The trail
currently stops near the Whole Foods supermarket on Wayne Avenue and
will not be completed until the planned route for the Purple Line is
known, according to Unger.

‘‘Bicycling facilities are really the first things to go when times get
tough, and that’s what we’re seeing in Montgomery County right now,”
said Eric Gilliland, executive director of the Washington Area
Bicyclist Association. ‘‘In our opinion, everything should be developed
with bike access in mind.”

If the fence is taken down, then the trail could be widened for a
safer, more pleasant trail. If, alternatively, the Columbia Country
Club pays a fair price to use the public land it is now encroaching
upon, then the money could be used to maintain and extend the trail.

We're talking about approx. 120,000 square feet, or nearly 3 acres, of
prime public land that the Country Club is now using for free. Fair
market value rent for this land would be more than pocket change for a
County that is facing tight budgets for maintaining trails. Has this
idea never occurred to our County Executive or Council?

And as for the Columbia Country Club. They're supporting an astroturfmovement to kill the Purple Line and the extension of the CCT.

the Alliance for Smart Transportation bills itself as a "coalition
of concerned citizens advocating for smart transportation solutions for
Montgomery and Prince George's Counties."

But although the new group criticizes Maryland's plan to build a
16-mile Purple Line transit link between Bethesda and New Carrollton,
it offers no ideas for how to relieve traffic in the suburbs. Nor does
the site identify the "concerned citizens."

Its founder is a board member at Columbia Country Club in Montgomery,
whose 100-year-old golf course would be bisected by the transit line.

"What's going on here is a battle between commuters who want to get to
work and a bunch of people who don't want to look at trolley cars while
they play golf," said Ben Ross, president of Action Committee for
Transit, a pro-Purple Line group. "If the public understands that's
what this fight is about, then the Purple Line will be built."

Geoffrey Gonella, a member of the country club's board of governors,
said the club has done nothing to hide its opposition to a Purple Line
and is just raising "serious questions" about its potential costs as
well as its impact on traffic congestion, the environment and an
extension of the popular Capital Crescent Trail.

The alliance, Gonella said, has members who do not belong to the
country club. Asked for their names, he said he did not have them
readily available and that he could speak only for the country club.
The Web site doesn't list alliance members, he said, because the group
is so new. He said he didn't know how many people it had recruited so
far.

"It's like any grass-roots organization," Gonella said.

Except that I don't know any of the members....Later, people wrote in to the Post to point out there is real grassroots opposition.

Eighteen community organizations and municipalities formed Rethinking
the Purple Line after a May 31 event, attended by more than 400 people,
to support protecting the Capital Crescent Trail. Thousands of people
have written to the governor or signed petitions to protect this valued
park.

· The Purple Line would create a number of problems [WC: Defined as "widening of Wayne Avenue" and a parking shortage] in our neighborhood (and, we believe, in other neighborhoods, as well).

· The Purple Line is going to cost a lot of money to build.

With a new claim I have not heard:

the Purple Line would...adversely affect the proposed Green Trail, which would make it
safer and easier to bike longer distances around our area.

So this is not talking of the section between Bethesda and Silver Spring but between Silver Spring and Sligo Creek. I'm not sure how it will adversely affect the Green Trail, Mr. Gabriele doesn't say. I hope it's not the old "trails next to trains are dangerous" argument.

Comments

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As far as I can determine from the plans MTA present at their www.purplelinemd.com website, the Purple Line would have a minimal impact on the Green Trail. There would be no impact from Colesville Road to Fenton Street because the Purple Line would not run on Wayne Avenue in that section. From Fenton Street to the Sligo Creek Parkway the main impact would be that the Green Trail would lose the landscaped tree panel between the trail and the roadway. The Green Trail would still be a sidepath trail continuous along the north side of Colesville Road, with a separate sidewalk for pedestrians alongside.

In my view, the Green Trail at its best will never come close to being the regionally important spine trail that the CCT/MBT will be if completed. The CCT and MBT can be true off-road trails and not just sidepath trails (i.e. glorified sidewalk), and they connect through to much more important activity centers.

I support the Green Trail, but we need to keep our attention and priority on finishing the CCT and MBT.

What is the probability that the tunnel will stay open for bike/walking traffic if the Purple Line Light Rail plan is chosen. I have heard that it will be too expensive to run both rail and trail through the tunnel.

Wayne, are you ok with the tunnel being closed for trail usage to accomodate the Purple Line rail only?

I am not OK with the tunnel being closed for trail usage to accomodate the Purple Line rail only. MTA concepts show it is possible to keep the trail in the tunnel, and propose doing so for the Light Rail "high option". MTA has not shown how much this will cost, but I believe if it is reasonable to MTA for the "high option", then we can make MTA understand this is important enough to do in any of the options.

I do believe you when you say that you want to push for continued trail access in the tunnel. I am afraid that once the MTA has the go-ahead that the tunnel will be the least of their concerns. I also believe that most pro-Purple Line folks could give a hoot in hell about either the tunnel or even the trail. The development interests want to ramrod this Light Rail in specifically to increase development ceilings. Once the project's wheels are in motion the trail users will have very little say in the final product.

Sin, you bring up a good point. It's important that should the purple line be built, that the cycling community make its voice heard. We should push MTA to build the RIGHT light rail - one which includes bikes in the tunnel.

Sin, I'm with Washcycle here that we must make our voices heard. This is not about trusting MTA to do the right thing. This is about making MTA understand the CCT has so much popular support that the Purple Line project can be derailed if they fail to protect the Trail.